The L1A1 Armourer

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Sens. Lieberman and Warner have gotten their cap-and-trade legislation, America’s Climate Security Act (S. 2191) scheduled for Senate debat beginning the first week of June. This legislation sets pollution targets for all producers n the United States and mandates reduction on carbon emmissions over time. For example: the 2020 reduction from 2005 emissions levels is 15%, and the peak percentage (reached in 2036) is 73%. There are numerous other components, adjustments, and details. (And as is usual, the devil is IN the details.)

OK, so what does this all mean and how does it affect you?

This is a carbon tax on everyone that uses energy, also called a tax-and-cap law.

First, the law assumes that there IS such a thing as Global Warming and that America can do something about it by taxing us all with a hidden tax on all producers of products we use. (They are doing it this way so as to avoid "officially" raising taxes on energy in an election year, thereby giving the politicians insulation from the voters).

The law sets limits on carbon-emmission levels for every type of business in the United States at a certain level that existed at a certain time (say 2005) and says that your industry (say your electric utility) has to reduce this level by 15% by 2020 and 73% by 2036. If the company is meeting its emmissions level, it pays no tax. If the company is below the level it can sell emmissions credits (through a U.S. government agency) to those companies that are above their target emmissions levels. (Analogy: One of the causes of the Reformation in the Middle Ages Christian church was the selling of "indulgences". The "indulgence" was a way for the worst sinner to buy their way into Heaven -- while providing income to the church. The "indulgence" purged the sinner of all sins, real or imagined.) Lieberman-Warner Bill (S.2191) is the ultimate scam. The Senate of the United States of America is actually taxing the AIR all of us breathe!

Second, the bill assumes that American businesses are evil polluters that have to be taxed to punish them. However, no matter what the law says, business do not pay taxes, they pass along the increased cost of doing business (the Lieberman-Warner emmissions tax) to their customers -- that's everyone who buys their product.

So, you think that it won't affect you?

>> Do you eat food? It will increase the cost of the food you eat at all levels of production.

>> Do you drive your car? It will increase the cost of your fuel, oil, and motor vehicle at all levels of production (think: $10 gasoline).
>> Do you have a job? Well, you may not, because like California has found out with their horrendous environmental regulations, industries are moving out of the state. Count on industries moving out of the U.S. to other countries (hello India, hello China, hello Taiwan).

>> Do you use electricity? Costs will increase becase it will be taxed at all levels of production and use.

Third, the sad thing is that the majority of the American public thinks that Lieberman-Warner will only affect "evil" industries, prevent Global Warming, and save mother Earth. No, if anything, Earth is going into a Global Cooling phase that will be in effect for a minimum of 10 years. However, it is important that we pass this legislation so the duped among us can feel good about themselves.

What you can do. Get mad as hell and melt down the phone lines to your U.S. Senators in Washington, DC. Phone their local office; phone their Washington, DC office. Fax them, e-mail them. Write letters to the editor in your local newspaper. Tell your friends and neighbors. This legislation is a total disaster waiting to happen for all Americans. If you don't believe me, do the research and do the math. You will be horrified by how your Senator intends to destroy your personal lifestyle and that of your children and grandchildren.

Time is short. The Senate intends to try and ramrod Liberman-Warner (S.2191) through the Senate with a minimum of debate beginning the first week of June. It is time to get active and tell these political whores just who is boss. If they don't heed the message then relieve them of their jobs in November 2008.

If you don't know how we got to our "energy crisis" here is the whole story.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

How the Greens Captured Energy Policy
American Thinker ^ | July 10, 2008 | J.R. Dunn

Posted on Thursday, July 10, 2008 1:46:21 PM by neverdem

U.S. energy policy -- to stretch the meaning of the term - is appalling. It has been thrown together piece by piece over the decades to create a system that is dysfunctional, over complex, and internally contradictory. It is a system that victimizes American citizens, cripples the U.S. economy, makes the government a laughingstock, and empowers our enemies worldwide. While it's conceivable that somebody could actually design a policy that would do worse, they'd really have to work at it.

The only group in American that sees energy policy achieving some of their goals are the ones who oversaw its implementation from the beginning: the environmentalist Greens. It's obvious that our energy policy was intended not for the benefit of the public, or industry, or government, but almost solely to fit the agenda and goals of the Green movement, and not even the public agenda and goals, but the core agenda rarely referred to except through euphemism.

The irony here is that it has done next to nothing to fulfill the actual requirements of the environmentalists. Greens, it appears, are the worst judges of their own true needs.

A glance at the record will give us a clear idea as to how we reached this pass. One thing consistently overlooked is that American energy policy is literally the result of a series of accidents. Each of these incidents set off a blizzard of activity intended to "rationalize" the energy industry and its practices, prevent further mishaps, increase government control, and not the least, usher in the new Green Age. Each thrust American energy policy deeper into stagnation.

The first incident occurred at the very infancy of the modern Green movement (which is distinct from the conservation movement, a far older phenomenon, with no more true relationship between the two than between socialists and communists), and played a large part in defining environmentalism, setting its tactics, and establishing it as a political and social force

Santa Barbara

On January 29, 1969, a blowout occurred at a Union Oil platform six miles off Santa Barbara. The blowout itself was contained, but internal pressure ruptured the pipe, sending 200,000 gallons of crude spewing out in an 800 square-mile slick. Prevailing winds blew the oil directly onto the shore, fouling over 35 miles of coastline. Thousands of birds were threatened along with seals and dolphins.

The public rallied to save the wildlife with some success. Environmentalists rallied alongside them. Within days, an anti-oil activist group, GOO (Get Oil Out) was in operation, calling for boycotts and circulating petitions to end offshore drilling.

Ignored in all the uproar was the fact that Union Oil had been allowed to skimp on heavy-duty protective sheathing by the U.S. Geological Survey. If the piping had been reinforced as called for by standard procedure, the rupture might not have occurred, or might well have been contained. But, the logic of political activism being what it is, with the government having played a crucial role in causing the accident, environmentalists turned to... the government, to prevent them in the future.

The Santa Barbara blowout was critical in transforming environmentalism from a conservationist to an activist movement. It led to the foundation of Earth Day a few months later (an event still celebrated in certain backward communities such as Ann Arbor and Berkeley). The incident also established the Green worldview: industry was the enemy. Oil was not a resource to be utilized under proper safeguards, but a pollutant to be subject to the most stringent controls. Above all, environmentalism was no mere political or social movement, it was a crusade. A crusade to rescue nature and to "save the planet", even if it was at the cost of human civilization. (Or for that matter, human extinction.)

Offshore drilling was a major target. A concerted campaign soon saw the practice all but outlawed within U.S. waters. Less than a decade later, the first "gasoline shortage" occurred in the U.S.

Three Mile Island

Even as cars were lining up for miles at gas stations, a second front opened in the Green crusade. On March 28, 1979, a pumping failure occurred at the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in south-central Pennsylvania. While the reactor shut down as designed, a relief valve stuck open (legend attributes this to its being put in backwards), allowing coolant water to escape. The ill-designed instrument suite failed to alert the operating crew. All unknown to them, the reactor core began to melt down.

Half the core had melted by the time anyone became aware of it. But the reactor's containment vessel held, and no major breach of radioactivity occurred. All the same, public reaction, nurtured on visions of Hiroshima and stoked by media hysteria (not to mention The China Syndrome, a Jane Fonda anti-nuke drama that had the good fortune to appear almost simultaneously with the accident), amounted to abject panic. A partial evacuation of nearby areas was carried out, amid media speculation that similar action would be required for the entire east coast.

The site was under control before the weekend was out. But the damage to nuclear power had already been done. The nuclear industry joined Big Oil as an enemy of mankind and nature. The Greens set out to shut down the entire industry, including all operational reactors. Although that effort failed, they did succeed in preventing the construction of any new reactors for a period of thirty years.

By the beginning of the 80s, the U.S. energy industry was paralyzed, the oil industry relegated to an ever-shrinking pool of permitted drilling areas, the nuclear industry effectively moribund. This put the U.S. in an excellent position to meet the depredations of OPEC, the rise of Saddam Hussein and the mullahs of Iran, and the manipulations of our Mideast "allies". That situation has prevailed ever since.

Chernobyl

The conclusions drawn from Santa Barbara and TMI were further underlined by two later incidents. On April 25, 1986, technicians at the Chernobyl nuclear plant decided to see what would happen if they shut down all safeguards and ran the reactor at its point of major instability. (This being a Soviet reactor, that point was at its lowest operational level. God forbid if it had been the other way around.) What happened was that the roof blew off, immediately killing several dozen people and irradiating large parts of the Ukraine. Aided by the regime's clumsy attempt at a cover-up, the accident played no small role in the collapse of the USSR.

On March 24, 1989, a captain challenged with alcohol problems allowed the supertanker Exxon Valdez to pile up on a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound, dumping 11 million gallons of crude oil into the sea. Hysteria peaked at probably the highest level of any such incident. The company's management was threatened with criminal prosecution, and a federal judge hearing the case went so far as to say that the accident was "worse than Hiroshima". All inclinations to adapt more rational energy policies evaporated in the wake of these events.

No reform following failure

An unprejudiced eye will immediately see that the common factor in all these incidents was management failure. Union Oil (a company long vanished into mergers) colluded with government in an effort to cut corners. The nuclear industry -- a combination of government and private enterprise, with the worst aspects of both and the advantages of neither -- insisted on operating on the lowest possible level of execution. (A few months before the TMI breakdown, I met a man who had just accepted a job installing a piping system at the Indian Point reactor. An engineer, I thought. No, he replied -- a plumber. Simply to save a few bucks, the industry was hiring bathroom-and-hot tub plumbers for sensitive work rather than experienced pipe-fitters or engineers. No wonder crucial fittings were going in backwards, upside down, and inside out.)

Chernobyl was merely the ultimate expression of ingrained Soviet incompetence going back to the Revolution. The Exxon Valdez revealed that a critical oil shipping component -- maritime operations -- was completely isolated from any meaningful oversight. (This is in large part due to marine traditions; ship's captains are as close-mouthed as any surgeon or cop concerning ineptitude in the ranks -- and in large part is still the case. Noel Mostert's Supership, written in the 1970s, remains the standard work on the shortcomings of the tanker industry.)

The appropriate response in these cases (Chernobyl being the exception: the only solution there was to tear the system down and start over) would have been to convene a panel of experts, send out investigators, hold hearings, issue recommendations, and see to it that reforms went into effect. This is what occurs following aircraft disasters, large-scale fires, building collapses, or any other catastrophic incident where suspicion exists that things were not being handled according to best practice. (Consider the investigation following the Challenger disaster, for one example.)

But this is not what occurred in these cases. Not in any meaningful sense. Under the new Green paradigm, oil and nuclear energy were not industries to be reformed, but "evils" to be either contained or destroyed. The Greens could have served a useful purpose by pushing for serious reform in management of critical energy industries. Instead, we got the religious impulse, distorted into sheer apocalypticism, with the environmentalists fighting oil and fissionables (plutonium in particular) as products of dark sin, placed on earth to tempt humankind from the path that Gaia intended.

The Green Agenda

Through its influence in the media and government (both bureaucracy and congress), the Greens effectively abolished nuclear power, curtailed domestic oil production, and left the American energy industry in the comatose state in which it abides to this day. Nor this was an error or overreaction - it was a deliberate effort to fulfill the Green agenda.

What is the nature of this agenda? Greens were much more open about it during the early years of the movement. (As for example in the utopian novel Ecotopia.) The end point of all Green efforts is a kind of Edenic state in which humans exist in "partnership" with nature. In which humanity is simply another species. In which the human "footprint" (a purely Green concept with no literal meaning) is reduced to a minimum. A world which has returned in large part to a pre-industrial state, where whatever small amounts of power are needed are provided by solar and wind. Where every last damn item is recycled. A kind of universal Northern California, where all living things from spirochete to grizzly exist in harmony under the cloak of Gaia.

(Such a world could sustain perhaps a hundred million human beings, tops. What happens to the rest is something most Greens have been less than straightforward about.)

Greens have become quieter about this vision as it has grown more distant. Which does not mean that they have ceased working toward it. Like all true believers, the Greens simply grow more fanatical the more unlikely their dreams become. And that is why the long overdue reform of America's energy sector, of the kind supported by John McCain and a few forward-looking GOP politicians (now there's a threatened species), is no certainty, in no way a slam-dunk, and will require a lengthy and hard-fought battle if it's going to happen at all.

Current energy policy -- or non-policy, however you wish -- lies at the very center of the Green agenda. It is the only element in which any progress has been achieved. First, we need to rid ourselves of our "addiction" to nukes and oil. Then we adapt to solar and wind, and.... Here it peters off into silence. Because no such second step has ever, or will ever be made. Solar, wind, alcohol, ethanol... all these are single-digit energy sources. (And the low single digits as well, able to replace perhaps two or three percent of power generation at best.) Replacement of oil and nuclear power is a fantasy. Therefore, the rest of the Green dream is as well.

But the gutting of the American energy sector remains the Green's chief accomplishment, their single achieved step toward paradise. They will defend it tooth and nail. The Green lobby, comprised of organizations such as the Sierra Club and the World Wildlife Federation, is immensely powerful and has deep pockets -- not to overlook the many politicians who are avid converts (e.g., Hudson Valley congressman John Hall, who as leader of the execrable 70s soft-rock band Orleans wrote an anti-nuke anthem, "Plutonium is Forever").

The Green crisis ahead

They'll still lose. Americans are not going to freeze in the dark. Nuclear technology has gone through several revolutions in the past decades. Entire families of reactors exist -- including the CANDU and pebble-bed designs -- that are far safer from kind of catastrophic failure. Evolution in oil drilling and exploitation has followed similar paths. We need to catch up on these technical advances. There are already 30 new nuclear plants proposed in the US and some are even in early stages of licensing. The plants use new designs which make use of passive safety systems that substantially reduce the chance of a major accident.

Other aspects of the Green argument have also collapsed. New discoveries off Brazil and in the Gulf of Mexico have nearly doubled international oil reserves, pushing backwards from the "peak oil" date. And global warming, that notorious by-product of "oil addiction," has faded to the point that its advocates are now reduced to threatening dissenters with prison.

Energy reform is an egg and rock situation for the Democrats. (From the old Irish proverb: "When the rock hits the egg, alas for the egg. When the egg hits the rock, alas for the egg.") The Democrats -- Obama chief among them -- can neither adequately defend it nor abandon it, as is clearly shown by their refusal to even consider loosening drilling restrictions. The GOP holds all the cards on this one, and all they need to do is keep building the pressure. (Always granted, of course, that they play it better than their last few runs of hands.) No better electoral tool will be found during this cycle. We just can't expect results immediately - this will be a long and drawn-out battle, requiring maximum, sustained effort from all involved.

It has gone almost completely unacknowledged that with oil shale, offshore deposits, and new resources such as the hydrocarbon sludge deposits off B.C. and Alaska, the OPEC of the late 21^st century is going to be right here. That's a goal worth working toward. Breaking the power of the Greens is yet another possible benefit.

Environmentalism is a luxury, and like all such, is best taken in moderation. The environment requires protection, but that's all. Primitive panthiesm has no place in this millennium. Nature is not an utterly benign continuum, and human beings are not a disease. Pseudo-religious environmentalism has long outlived its welcome. It's time to bring down the curtain.

J.R. Dunn is consulting editor of American Thinker.

We can't drill for oil. We have to replace oil and develop alternatives -- so the environmentalists say.

OK.

How will that impact you? We'll have to replace these items and this is not a complete list.

The environmentalists want you to live in a cave and they won't stop until they destroy our economy and lifestyle in the process.

Products Made From Oil

Clothing Ink
Heart Valves
Crayons
Parachutes
Telephones
Enamel
Transparent tape
Antiseptics
Vacuum bottles
Deodorant
Pantyhose
Rubbing Alcohol
Carpets
Epoxy paint
Oil filters
Upholstery
Hearing Aids
Car sound insulation
Cassettes
Motorcycle helmets
Pillows
Shower doors
Shoes
Refrigerator linings
Electrical tape
Safety glass
Awnings
Salad bowl
Rubber cement
Nylon rope
Ice buckets
Fertilizers
Hair coloring
Toilet seats
Denture adhesive
Loudspeakers
Movie film
Fishing boots
Candles
Water pipes
Car enamel
Shower curtains
Credit cards
Aspirin
Golf balls
Detergents
Sunglasses
Glue
Fishing rods
Linoleum
Plastic wood
Soft contact lenses
Trash bags
Hand lotion
Shampoo
Shaving cream
Footballs
Paint brushes
Balloons
Fan belts
Umbrellas
Paint Rollers
Luggage
Antifreeze

Model cars
Floor wax
Sports car bodies
Tires
Dishwashing liquids
Unbreakable dishes
Toothbrushes
Toothpaste
Combs
Tents
Hair curlers
Lipstick
Ice cube trays
Electric blankets
Tennis rackets
Drinking cups
House paint
Roller-skate wheels
Guitar strings
Ammonia
Eyeglasses
Ice chests
Life jackets
TV cabinets
Car battery cases
Insect repellent
Refrigerants
Typewriter ribbons
Cold cream
Glycerin
Plywood adhesive
Cameras
Anesthetics
Artificial turf
Artificial Limbs
Bandages
Dentures
Mops
Beach Umbrellas
Ballpoint pens
Boats
Nail polish
Golf bags
Caulking
Tape recorders
Curtains
Vitamin capsules
Dashboards
Putty
Percolators
Skis
Insecticides
Fishing lures
Perfumes
Shoe polish
Petroleum jelly
Faucet washers
Food preservatives
Antihistamines
Cortisone
Dyes
LP records
Solvents
Roofing

The war over developing American energy sources just heated up in both the House and Senate. Here's what happened Friday, 1 August 2008, that the main stream media AREN'T reporting (thanks to NewsBusters.org).

$10 Gas Doesn't Change Dem Senator's Mind on Oil Drilling
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/08/01/10-gas-doesnt-change-dem-senators-mind-oil-drilling ^ | Noel Sheppard

SEE THE VIDEO AT THIS LINK

$10 Gas Doesn't Change Dem Senator's Mind on Oil Drilling By Noel Sheppard (Bio | Archive) August 1, 2008 - 17:03 ET

There was a rather extraordinary confrontation on the Senate floor Thursday involving offshore oil drilling that got very little press coverage.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kent.) tried to get Democrats to vote on a measure that would open up such drilling if the price of gasoline reached a certain level.

Although the "bidding" eventually reached $10 a gallon, Colorado's Ken Salazar continually objected.

As reported by the Salt Lake Tribune Friday (video embedded right):

In back-and-forth bickering on the Senate floor Thursday, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell attempted to force Democrats to vote on a measure opening up coastal waters for drilling when gas reached $4.50, $5 or even $7.50 a gallon.

"If $5-gallon gasoline isn't an emergency, I have to ask what is an emergency?" McConnell said.

"It's a phantom solution," countered Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo, noting that such drilling would not affect gas prices in the short term.

Oddly, Google news and LexisNexis searches produced little coverage of this incident. Isn't it newsworthy that Democrats wouldn't expand drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf even if gasoline reached $10 a gallon?

I guess not.

DRILL, DRILL, DRILL!
GOP refuses to leave after Dems cut lights
Congressmen protest blockage of oil drilling legislation:
'This is the people's House �?this is not Pelosi's politburo'

August 01, 2008, WorldNetDaily

The Democrats turned out the lights, shut down the cameras and headed home for the month, but some 50 Republicans insistent on enacting legislation to address skyrocketing oil prices remained on the House floor for more than five hours this afternoon, delivering rousing speeches met with cheers from the gallery and taking swipes at their rivals.

"This is the people's House," Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., said, according to Politico. "This is not Pelosi's politburo."

The newssite said Democratic aides were furious at the GOP members' refusal to leave and kicked out reporters from the Speaker's Lobby, the space next to the House floor where lawmakers are interviewed.

"You're not covering this, are you?" a senior Democratic aide complained, Politico reported.

Another aide called the Republicans "morons" for staying on the floor.

The GOP members are angered by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's moves to block voting on a plan that would allow drilling offshore and in Alaska in a bid to reduce dependence on foreign sources of oil. Republicans contend that with support from a substantial number of Democrats, they have more than enough votes.

Pretending to be a Democrat, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., stood on the other side of the chamber and listed all of the Republican bills killed by Democrats, Politico reported.

"I am a Democrat and here is my energy plan," he said, holding up a picture of an old VW Bug with a sail attached to it.

Nunes paraded the picture around the House floor to the cheers of the gallery crowd.

Employing the Internet to get the word out to voters, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., sent out a message from the floor via the Web service Twitter: "Call Speaker Pelosi at 202 225 0100. Demand vote on energy legislation."

Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, also provided updates via Twitter.

The Republicans wrapped up their protest session at 5:05 p.m. by singing "God Bless America," said National Review writer Mark Hemingway.

The lawmakers, he said, left the chamber with the crowd chanting, "USA! USA!"

Politico said Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other GOP leaders opposed the motion to adjourn the House, at 11:23 a.m., arguing Pelosi's refusal to schedule a vote allowing offshore drilling is hurting the American economy.

The newssite said that at one point, the chamber lights and microphones were turned off, but then returned while Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz. was speaking.

Apparently, Shadegg turned on the PA system by typing in random codes and accidentally typed the correct code, allowing brief access before it was turned off again.

"I love this," Shadegg later told reporters up in the press gallery. "Congress can be so boring. ...This is a kick."

C-SPAN, which has no control over House cameras, stopped broadcasting after the official adjournment.

Politico reported Republicans tried to prevent Capitol Police from removing reporters from the press gallery above the floor. The police were held off when they saw Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., in the gallery talking to reporters, and Politico said GOP leaders tried to find other Republicans to rotate in for Blunt so reporters would not be kicked out.

Blunt's office sent out a message saying: "Although, this Democrat Majority just Adjourned for the Democrat 5-Week Vacation, House Republicans are continuing to fight on the House Floor. Although the lights, mics and C-SPAN cameras have been turned off, House Republicans are on the Floor speaking to the tax payers in the gallery who, not surprisingly, agree with Republican Energy proposals. All Republicans who are in town are encouraged to come to the House Floor."

Politico described the scene on the floor as "kind of crazy," noting members normally are not allowed to speak directly to the visitor gallery, and cheering from the gallery is not allowed.

But House members were walking up and down the floor to loud cheers, including standing ovations.

Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Ill., brought the crowd to its feet with a rousing speech that accused Democrats of stifling dissent, referencing President John Quincy Adams, who returned as a House member after his term in the White House.

The congressman left the floor to hugs from his colleagues, said Politico, noting, "You don't see that up here every day."

WND Editor Joseph Farah has organized a campaign to step up pressure on Congress to drop its moratorium on offshore drilling and reverse its decisions to ban exploration for oil in Alaska's ANWR reserves before adjournment at the end of September

Farah's goal is to force Congress to act in the next two months �?before it adjourns for the year.

Farah's plan is simple: "I want to bring Congress to its knees," he says. "I want to melt down their phones. I want to flood their e-mail boxes. I want to hold them as political hostages. The ransom demand is to unleash the free market to begin exploring and pumping domestic crude oil and getting it to market as fast as possible. We've got two months days to make our voices heard. Let's make history by bringing this recalcitrant body of elitists into compliance with the will of the people and the rule of law."

After eagerly waiting for someone else to take the lead on demanding action of Congress, Farah came to the conclusion no one else was going to do it.

Farah says it's a national emergency and needs to be treated as such.

"I hope radio talk show hosts across the country will embrace this bipartisan, non-partisan movement," he says. "There is no question in my mind this is what the American people want. Now it's just time for them to impose their will on their elected representatives who, in their chauffeured limousines and taxpayer-supported travel, are hopelessly out of touch with their constituents, with people who are finding it difficult to make ends meet."

Farah says he is convinced Congress will act only if the people steamroll members into action. He points to the way the Dubai port deal and so-called "comprehensive immigration reform" were killed by popular uprisings in recent years.

"We can make this happen, again," he says. "But this time, we won't just be stopping something bad from happening. We will be doing something that is very good for the country �?something that will improve the lives of all of us, something that will improve national security, something vital for the future of the nation."

Congress is set to adjourn at the end of September and will take most of August off for recess.

"I'm going to do everything in my power to push Congress into action in the next two months days," Farah says. "I know I can't do it by myself. But I know if the American people get mobilized nothing can stop them. You have to let members of Congress know you are serious. You have to persuade them and their staffs they are not returning to Washington next year if they fail to act in America's interest before they leave town."

Before then, you can reach members of the House and members of the U.S. Senate by calling 202-224-3121. The official House website contains web pages for all members and includes e-mail addresses for most. The official Senate website also contains web pages for all members and includes email address for some.

According to the House Republican Conference website, the following Republican lawmakers participated in the energy marathon:

Rep. Brian Bilbray, Calif.
Rep. Gus Bilirakis, Fla.
Rep. Rob Bishop, Utah
Rep. Roy Blunt, Mo.
Rep. John Boehner, Mich.
Rep. John Boozman, Ariz.
Rep. Kevin Brady, Texas
Rep. Paul Broun, Ga.
Rep. Henry Brown, S.C.
Rep. Michael Burgess, Texas
Rep. Tom Cole, Okla.
Rep. John Campbell, Calif.
Rep. Eric Cantor, Va.
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, W.V.
Rep. John Carter, Texas.
Rep. Mike Conaway, Texas

Rep. John Culberson, Texas
Rep. Charlie Dent, Penn.
Rep. Mary Fallin, Okla.
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, Neb.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, N.C.
Rep. Louie Gohmert, Texas
Rep. Wally Herger, Calif.
Rep. Pete Hoekstra, Mich.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, Calif.
Rep. Steve King, Iowa
Rep. Dan Lungren, Calif.
Rep. Don Manzullo, Ill.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Calif.
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, Mich.
Rep. Devin Nunes, Calif.
Rep. Mike Pence, Ind.

Rep. Chip Pickering, Miss.
Rep. Todd Platts, Penn
Rep. Ted Poe, Texas
Rep. Jon Porter, Nev.
Rep. Tom Price, Ga.
Rep. Adam Putnam, Fla.
Rep. Mike Rogers, Mich.
Rep. Bill Sali, Idaho
Rep. John Shadegg, Ariz.
Rep. John Shimkus, Ill.
Rep. Adrian Smith, Neb.
Rep. Michael Turner, Ohio
Rep. Tim Walberg, Mich
Rep. Greg Walden, Ore.
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, Ga.
Rep. Joe Wilson, S.C.

Media Near-Secret: Exxon's Taxes Almost 3x As Much As Profits
Newsbusters ^ | July 31, 2008 | Tom Blumer

Mark Levin mentioned this point on his show tonight.

The item he referred to is from Mark Perry at istockanalyst.com, who commented on CNNMoney.com's coverage of Exxon Mobil's profit report today:

According to CNN, Exxon Mobil once again reported the largest quarterly profit in U.S. history Thursday, posting net income of $11.68 billion on revenue of $138 billion in the second quarter.
That profit works out to $1,485.55 a second.

Buried in the story we also find that "In addition to making hefty profits, Exxon also had a hefty tax bill. Worldwide, the company paid $10.5 billion in income taxes in the second quarter, $9.5 billion in sales taxes, and over $12 billion in what it called 'other taxes.'"
..... In other words, Exxon Mobil paid $32.361 billion in taxes in the second quarter, which works out to $4,114 in taxes per second.

Go to his site to see the graph Perry put up.

Looking at it from another perspective, Exxon Mobil's profit of about 8.4% of sales, while the taxes paid represented over 23% of sales.

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